On This Day in History

1980:    After Mount St. Helens erupts, a C-141 from the 63 MAW at Norton AFB, CA and a C-130 from the 62 MAW at McChord AFB WA fly above the stricken area to provide communications […]

1948: Air Materiel Command asks Boeing to develop an American aerial fueling system, the flying boom, to overcome problems with the British hose system used on B-29s.

  1973: From Kennedy Space Center, a two-stage Saturn V launches Skylab 1 into orbit, where its two Solar Array System wings fail to deploy. These were partially repaired on subsequent missions. Skylab was America’s

1976:   TYPHOON OLGA. Through 1 June air rescue and recovery squadron helicop­ters save 734 flood victims.

1968: MEDAL OF HONOR. Lt Col Joe M. Jackson volunteers to rescue a three-man Air Force combat control team at Kham Duc. Before the rescue, enemy forces set the camp afire, overrun the forward outpost,

1918: The U.S. Army Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces, receives its first American-made DH-4, with a Liberty engine. It makes its first flight six days later.

1970:    MACKAY TROPHY. An AC-119K gunship attacks a heavily defended road section in SEA. Despite losing 15 feet of the aircraft’s right wing and an aileron, the crew destroys three enemy supply trucks and then

1949:    Henry H. Arnold is named General of the Air Force.  He had been made a five-star general of the Army in December 1944 and is thus the only person to hold the rank in two services.

2006:   The last operational C-141 Starlifter (Tail No. 66-0177) lands at Wright Field for donation to the National Museum of the USAF. The landing ends 42 years of ops in the active-duty USAF, ANG, and

1987:   The last Titan II missile came off alert at Little Rock AFB, marking the close of a quarter century of uninterrupted service.